Writing MythsWhile there are a good many writing myths these are some of the most common and the most deadly. Common Myths
"I need inspiration to write." Inspiration has nothing to do with it. Writing is work and if you want to write, then you have to consistently and diligently write. If your solution is to wait for inspiration you might as well play the lottery. There's a better chance of winning. "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London. You also need some know-how which is what you'll get from this website. writing myths The muse is a myth. She doesn't exist. The only real muse is our own consistent hard work and a desire to succeed. And of course "practice" however as Vince Lombardi so aptly put it, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect." writing myths Writers are not born -- they are made by study and practice. The only problem is knowing, what and how to study and practice. writing myths Because it came easy doesn't make the story or the telling of it any good. The average self-published book sells only 10 copies. This will destroy the self-publishing industry if they don’t get a handle on it. Self-publishing is fine and I highly recommend it. But the author must get the services of a professional editor - or suffer the embarrassment of a book that no one will buy, let alone read. Self-publishing is no cure for a poor story, poorly told. Every book must sell itself. No amount of marketing money or effort can compensate for a lousy story, poorly told. Self-published books have an even worse rate of failure than the publishing industry as a whole. The two biggest problems for self-publishing writers is that they attempt to skip the "editing" step necessary to ensure that they have a good story, well told. And they don’t know how to (or even that they need to) "sell" their book; presuming of course that they have a good book that can be sold in the first place. writing myths Publishers only manufacture a manuscript into a book that can be sold, and make it available to bookstores. Bookstores only display books for sale. There's a huge difference between "taking orders" and "selling". It's up to the author to actually promote, market and sell his books. writing myths This is the idea that the professionals in the publishing and movie businesses have it all figured out. The sad truth is that 75% of all new books and movies fail to even earn back their cost of production. Given only a 25% success rate, we would have to conclude that the experts aren't very expert at understanding what the public wants, how to produce it or even how to recognize it when they see it. writing myths This is true only if you want a job as an editor, or writing for newspapers or magazines. No one else cares about your education of lack thereof. All anyone wants, or cares about, is a good story, well told. Higher education has little history of graduating successful fiction writers. writing myths People feel they lack time if they don’t know what to do, and/or they don’t know how to manage the time they have. When one understands what they are doing and how to do it, it's easy to "find the time". writing myths This quote is attributed to a famous Hollywood studio head who ruled his industry in the 50s. But it will be observed that the "classics" that survive from that era all have a "message" - the rest are long forgotten. A story must have a premise or it's not a story. It might be something else but it's not a "story". writing myths No one cares who you are or who you know. The very best that "knowing people" will get any writer is a foot in the door to show what you got. But if you haven’t got a good story, well told, they'll boot you and your book right back out that door. As I mentioned earlier, the "experts" in the publishing and movie businesses are so poor at picking winners they might just give your story a shot - if you know the right people. But if it's a lousy story, poorly told - that will be your last shot. Therefore "knowing the right people" is not a substitute for being able to produce a good, well told story. writing myths These are just excuses for a lack of knowledge or determination. writing myths What you need first and foremost is a good story, well told. Then you need to know how to sell your manuscript or book like any business person would sell a product. If you can do the above, everything else will take care of itself. writing myths It's inconceivable that anyone who has every read even one novel, could believe for a moment that the story was "just made up" as the writer went along. writing myths Quite the contrary. The reading and movie public are starving for more good stories, well told. They consume by the truckload the best they can find - and that isn't very good and it isn't nearly enough. Why do you think Hollywood is making movies from comic books and old sitcoms - and then sequels, and sequels of the sequels? There are two reasons. Half the time they wouldn't know a good story if it hit them on the head. And the other half of the time they're shooting the best material they can find which isn't very good but they can't find enough good stuff to keep the wheels turning. writing myths One can work at writing fiction as a hobby, or a business. Only working it like a business will put bread on the table or pay the utility bill. If one can't make a living at it, it's only because they haven't learned how to consistently and efficiently produce and sell good, well-told stories. If one can't make a living at it, then it's hard to do enough of it, to get good enough, by trial and error to make a living. Yes, it's a catch-22. The trick is to systematize the subject so that you can write good fiction quickly and consistently. With a systematic approach to the subject, one could get good enough in their spare time. Good artists starve to death because they don’t have a system and they don’t operate their "art" like a business. There are three components to any business; establishment, operations and sales. Artists routinely starve because they neglect establishment, focus only on operations (making the art) and rely on others to do the selling. When they give up the selling part, they give up 75% or more of the profit necessary to survive, let alone stay in business - and that's why they starve or are told, "Don’t give up your day job." writing myths Systematizing the subject is not the same as reducing writing a novel to a paint-by-numbers formula; although a number of "popular" authors have done that. I won't mention any names but it seems that all they do with each new book is change the location and the names of the characters. It's the same story they wrote the last time. Although this is one solution for consistently producing a salable novel, there are other, better ways. writing myths But if one truly understands storytelling as a subject, and bases each story on a premise, there are an unlimited number of different stories one can tell -- even allowing for the fact that all stories have the same basic structure. writing myths Writers block is only a symptom of not following a system from story conception, through story design before starting the composition phase. This leaves the writer trying to do at least three things all at the same time - in his head. That would "block" anyone about anything. So, study this website and forget about the "writing myths" and... Write on... writing myths © copyright 2010 - Richard A McCullough is the creator & editor of http://www.write-better-fiction.com the Fiction Writers source for Writing Better Fiction Faster and Selling More of What You Write. - Copyright: you may freely republish this article, provided the text, author credit, active links and this copyright notice remain intact.
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